The present invention relates to baseball caps and similar headgear having bills or visors thereon and, in particular, to apparatus for, and a method of, `breaking in` the bills on such caps to form a curved visor contour. Most cap wearers prefer, whether for mere style or for the salutary benefits of shielding sun and rain, to have the bill of their cap curved, with its outer edges sloping downwardly from the center. And despite obvious attempts of cap manufacturers to provide the desired contour, the visors of most new caps remain unacceptably flat.
The present invention defines an inexpensive mechanism and method that permits the bending of a hat bill into a wide range of user-selectible curvatures. The user is not required to adopt any particular or current style nor any `industry` standard contour. The user may, in fact, `experiment` with differing styles by successively altering visor curvature until the desired bending contour is attained.
Cap brims or bills generally exhibit what is known as `memory`. Memory is defined as the tendency of the bill to return to its preformed comparatively flat contour, i.e. the contour that existed upon manufacture. It will be appreciated that the apparatus and method of this invention may be applied to the bill as often as required in order to maintain or return the bill to the desired shape.
Further, the present apparatus may be used for cap storage, for example in a closet or the like. In this context the bill is returned to (i.e. placed within) the present bill forming apparatus during periods of non-use. This `storage function` serves, in turn, to maintain the bill in its desired contour by automatically `re-forming` it each time the hat is stored thereby overcoming any bill `memory` and more permanently defining the desired bend therein.
Numerous arrangements for bending and forming hat brims and bills have been shown. One early example is U.S. Pat. No. 370,963 to Materne in which a circumferential brim is given an upward curvature through the use of a press or die. The Materne press is employed during initial fabrication and does not provide for adjustment, user field use, nor hat storage. Similar teachings are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,259,930 to Gawelek and 2,556,016 to Turshin.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,207,407 to Hutter is another circumferential or "annular" brimmed hat in which the crown and the inner brim are fixed-formed by the use of "dies". The outer brim, however, is fabricated of a "flexible or pliable material" permitting the user to adjust the shape thereof. Hutter contemplates that such shape adjustment be achieved by hand without "being subjected to" use of external "die" apparatus.
Another apparatus for forming baseball cap-type "visors" is shown in Grommes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,271. Grommes provides a fixed curvature "support plate" on which the visor rests. The "front area" of this support plate may optionally be employed to form the visor (the principal thrust of Grommes is the formation of the cap "head piece"). Rubber bands are employed to hold and bias the visor against the fixed contour support plate.
Yet another arrangement for shaping baseball cap bills is shown in Otteson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,719. Like Grommes, Otteson provides for the shaping of both the head piece and the visor. More specifically, a three-point bill-forming frame is taught in which a "bendable wire" defines a pair of spaced "hooks" that grasp respective visor sides and bias the visor against a center "brace". Adjustment may be effected by "bending" the wire comprising the frame. Finally, Biehl, U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,589, teaches a hinged press arrangement. But Biehl, too, is limited to a predetermined fixed curvature.
The bill bender of the present invention employs a flexible retention system of variable and adjustable curvature where, as noted, the bill retained thereby can be contoured to any curvature. In one embodiment of the invention, the bill retention system is comprised of a pair of upper and lower flexible, generally planar members that are spaced apart and mounted along a portion of their respective perimeters in substantially parallel relationship thereby defining a slot therebetween for the receipt and retention of the cap bill. The cap bill is inserted into the slot and thereafter contoured as set forth below.
In another embodiment, the retention system employs a single flexible member with a pair of bill clamping mechanisms disposed along the opposed sides of the flexible member for grasping the corresponding edges of the bill. In yet another embodiment, a single bill clamping mechanism is disposed generally in the center of, again, a single flexible member to rigidly retain the center portion of the bill to the flexible bill bender member.
In all of these embodiments, an adjustable tensioning device is attached to, and disposed between, the respective opposed lateral sides of the flexible member whereby, by applying tension thereto, the otherwise generally planar flexible member is urged into an increasingly contoured C-shape in a manner analogous to that of a bow-string as it serves to tension and force the bending of the bow connected thereto. The present invention contemplates virtually any form of tensioning device including adjustable straps with buckles or Velcro.TM. or even the use of string ties.
The method of the present invention includes the placement of the bill into the slot of the flexible retention system or, alternatively, placement of the bill adjacent the flexible member with the opposed, or central, clamping mechanisms engaging and retaining the bill thereto. The bill may advantageously be moistened prior to insertion into the present bill bender apparatus. Such pre-moisturization hastens the bending process and generally lessens the degree of memory exhibited by the bill. The bill, in short, may more readily take a `set`, that is, retain a curvature for a longer or near permanent duration.
Following attachment of the cap bill to the present bill bender, the tensioning device is `tensioned` to begin to draw the opposed sides of the flexible members (and the bill retained in fixed orientation with respect thereto) together. The bill assumes an increasingly curved contour as tensioning progresses. The bill is preferably maintained within the bill bender for a period of several hours to assure that a proper `set` is taken by the bill and, in the case where moisture has been applied, to permit the evaporation thereof.
The tensioning device may be relaxed to aid in the release of the bill or, if it is intended to utilize the present bill bender as a closet hat rack, the hat may be removed while maintaining the bill bender in its previously set curvature. The bill may be reinserted at any time into the bill bender for hat storage or to re-apply the selected bill curvature. The above process may be undertaken in incremental steps to permit the hat owner to sample selected contours and to thereafter increase the contour if the previously selected configuration is not satisfactory.
It is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus and a method for reforming the visors of baseball-type caps to thereby give them the proper or user-desired curvature, such curvature often being associated with caps that have been in service for a period of time and are therefore `broken in`. It is an object that the present apparatus and method be simple to use (i.e. without training) and that extrinsic equipment or tools not be required. It is an object of the present invention that the apparatus be comparatively inexpensive and light weight. It is an object that the apparatus and method may be repeatedly applied to a given visor either as required to achieve the desire contour or iteratively to permit the user to sample and experiment with differing contours. It is an object of the present invention that it may be used not merely to initially form the cap visor, but thereafter in a storage capacity, for example, as a rack in a closet. It is an object that such storage further serves to maintain the selected visor contour. It is an object that the present apparatus may simply be placed on a shelf of a closet for storage, or it may include a mounting post clamped to the shelf, or a hook for hanging within the closet.
These and other objects are more fully explicated in the drawings, specification, and claims that follow.